There is no doubt that practicing meditation can be beneficial for mental and physical health. It helps me slow down, find peace, clear my mind, get centered, and get into the flow of what I am doing by getting out of my head and into my body. But, when you’re new to meditation, where should you start? What’s the ‘best’ one for you? Which type is most effective? It’s difficult to know which one to choose when you’re feeling stuck, unsettled, and trying to find some peace, isn’t it? There are so many popular types of meditation that it’s difficult to choose one that will work for you.

In my last post, I provided some meditation tips for beginners and talked about how there is no ‘right’ way to meditate. It’s more important to adapt a conscious meditation practice to fit your life and have flexibility, the opportunity to de-stress and free up headspace.

In this post, I’ve listed some meditation techniques for beginners. They encompass different approaches from most traditional, spiritual, and cultural meditations so it’s easy to make them part of your daily meditation practice and adapt them to whatever time limits you are working within. By the end of the post, you’ll know what the different types of meditations are, why they are easy to do, and how to do them.

Ways to meditate:

SINGLE-FOCUS MEDITATION

When I began practicing mindfulness, I did it by counting breaths. Then, I worked my way into meditations that were of short duration so that I could get my mind out of the way long enough to embody the full experience and stay in the present moment. Is that something you want too? To stay in the present moment? If so, try a single-point focus meditation.

Here’s what you need to know about them: they are static and require sitting in one space for a set amount of time and the breath is typically used as the focus of attention.

To do a single-focus meditation and count breaths, find a quiet spot, and take a few deep breaths. As you continue to focus on your breath notice how it feels slowly moving in and out of your lungs. Then, as you continue breathing, imagine each breath going beyond your lungs and filling your stomach, abdomen, and legs. If your mind starts to wander, simply return to your breath.

GROUP MEDITATION

Group meditations are a great way to begin when you are new to meditation as they allow you to tap into the consciousness of a group for a heightened meditation experience. Some days I prefer to meditate alone and other days, I like joining the energy of a group meditation so I can unite with others for a single purpose.

According to Samvedna Senior Care, there are 6 benefits of group meditation: meditating with a group helps to develop a habit, feedback is available, there is spiritual support and power in numbers, you can learn from each other, and everything is better when shared.

MOVING MEDITATION

If you have trouble sitting still, try to meditate and practice mindfulness while moving. Moving meditations require a focus on movement allowing the movement to guide you while finding peace in action.

There are two main types of moving meditations, walking meditations and free-flow meditations. Walking meditations encourage you to set an intention and then repeat words or phrases while focusing on footsteps. When the mind starts to wander, the attention is drawn back to the words and how it feels to place the feet step by step on the earth. The more you walk, the more you repeat your phrase and let all other thoughts and worries go. You can get the benefit of physical exercise along with the calming effect on the mind.

Free-flow movement meditations like Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, stretching, dancing, or swaying encourage movement while in a meditative state. They are active forms of meditation where the goal is to tune into the energy of the body and let it guide you as it is expressed and moved.

GUIDED MEDITATION

Guided meditations are extremely popular, as they allow the mind to focus on words being said instead of being allowed to wander. The point of focus is the words. Many find guided meditation a great starting point when they are new to meditation because the most difficult thing for people to do is put their minds at rest while they meditate. If this sounds like something for you, ask friends for recommendations or look online for free meditations to get started.

Here’s a tip, start with short meditations that are only a few minutes long (under ten) and work your way up to longer ones or you may become discouraged and stop the practice altogether.

CRYSTAL MEDITATION

The vibrations of crystals can be used to support, strengthen, and open areas of the body when held in the hands during meditation. Some hold latticelike crystalline structures that resonate with the vibration of the chakras and have a subtle electromagnetic field that can be felt by those sensitive enough to detect them.

Crystals can radiate love, attract love, and can be infused with love, then given to others. Hold them in your hand while meditating to take advantage of these qualities. Some good crystals to meditate with are rose quartz to heal, calm, and open the heart, watermelon tourmaline to bring together the green and pink of the heart chakra, sugilite (luvulite) to foster forgiveness and love, muscovite to open to intimacy, jade for harmony, and blue-green dioptase to access the higher dimensions.

There you have it. Some ways to meditate that are flexible and can be incorporated into a daily meditation practice. Using single-focus meditations, moving meditations, group meditations, guided meditations, or crystal meditations can be easy for beginners as they are flexible and can be adapted to one’s needs as one becomes accustomed to finding the place of peace within.

Whatever type of meditation you choose, the time spent meditating can give you great gifts and grace and make your daily tasks easier to complete.